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So many names to choose from! There are over 2000 names in my database for family history research which isn’t really very many, but I have kept the database to blood relations only, children, parents, grandparents, great grandparents, etc. For the earlier ancestors I have not included brothers and sisters. Too much information!

My favorite name is really favorite names because I have selected a husband and wife.

Neazer and Thankful Scofield

Neazer (not Ebenezer) was born 22 May 1754 son of Samuel Scofield in Stamford, Fairfield County, Connecticut.

Thankful was born 1 March 1757 daughter of Sylvanus Scofield, in Stamford, Fairfield County, Connecticut.

Neazer and Thankful are my 5x great grandparents. Neazer’s father, Samuel Scofield and Thankful’s father Sylvanus Scofield were brothers. This relationship really screws up the family history program.

The immigrant ancestor for the Scofield’s was Daniel Scofield (my 9x great grandfather) who was born in England and came to America in 1641. He was a founding settler of Stamford, Connecticut. He paid 25 pounds sterling for his land. This Scofield line descends to Levi Scofield a Seventh Day Baptist minister in Janesville, Wisconsin whose daughter Sabrina married Levi Squires father to Edwin and Mary Squires, parents of Grace Irene Squires Foreman, mother of Grandma Hancock.

Neazer and Thankful had 13 children, most born in Stamford, Connecticut but several were born in Hadley, New York. Thankful died 28 June 1836 at 79 years old in Hadley, Saratoga County, New York.

Neazer died 26 September 1846 at 93 years old. He served as a private in the local militia prior to the Revolutionary War, as a volunteer for 115 days in 1775. He continued to serve in militias in 1776 and enlisted in 1777 and returned to his family 1n 1778.

Neazer and Thankful are buried in the former Scofield Cemetery now named Gray’s Cemetery in Hadley, Saratoga, New York.

In 1998 when I first started searching for ancestors I would visit the library to select the microfilm rolls I needed, insert them in the machine and spend hours scrolling through names in the census records. If I was lucky there would be an index of names that would direct me to the exact roll I was looking for making the search much easier. These days with Ancestry and FamilySearch most of the census records are easy to search from home on the internet.

Some of my favorite discoveries from the census include:

Finding middle names. Grace Irene Squires (Foreman) sister was Mary I. Squires (the mother was listed as Mary S. Squires.) The next census had a more diligent recorder and listed her whole name Mary Ivadine Squires. Grandma Hancock would talk about her aunt Ivy saying she was an old maid because she never married.

Mary Ivadine Squires 1866-1921

Finding surnames. I could not find my dad in the 1940 census which was made public in 2010. I kept searching and finally last year found him in Tacoma, Washington under the name Jerry Frahm. His mother Signe Anderson Stalter had remarried. The family had been enumerated with Clarence Frahm as head of household and my dad and his brother Victor were listed as Frahm instead of Stalter. I never knew he lived in Tacoma, Washington. Seven years it took me to find that!

Left to right – Jerry Stalter, Clarence Frahm, Uncle Frank Martin, seated in car is my great grandfather Hinberg Anderson who immigrated in 1892 from Norway. My best guess is this picture was taken about 1937.

Finding places. Looking for my grandfather Perry Stalter in 1940. He was divorced from Signe and was listed by himself in a place called Work Camp #3, Glendale, Minnesota. Minnesota does a midterm census so I found him in 1935 in a different work camp. During the depression men who did not have jobs and no place to live were placed in work camps and trained for jobs or placed on work crews building “public works” projects from bridges to schools and the like. This included art projects and music projects. Perry wrote lyrics for music, he also wrote poetry. In 1942 he entered Word War II. He also served in World War I. Sometimes gravestones provide a lot of information.

Finding families. Most of our family lines moved as a group from one part of the country to another. By reading the entire page of the census and going back one page or forward a page you can usually find a brother or father or son with their family listed nearby. The Foreman’s in Illinois all lived within a ten mile radius of each other. Their farms were next to each other. Edwin Squires farm was next to his father, Levi Squires farm in Wisconsin. Daughters were a little harder to track because their names changed, but looking carefully, usually can be found within a short distance of her family.

This is the Robert Allen Foreman family. They left Time, Illinois and settled in Cherokee, Oklahoma about 1877. At the same time Jacob Foreman, older brother of Robert, left Time, Illinois and settled in Carroll County, Missouri about 250 miles from Time, Illinois. In 1887, Jacob and Sarah Foreman brought their family to Vernon, Colorado to homestead.

Finding a story within ten years. My husbands grandmother Beckie Singer was one of four children. In 1900 I found each of her siblings, a sister Fannie in St. Louis and two brothers, William and Harris living in Friar’s Point, Mississippi. Harris was married to Lizzie and the 1900 census shows they had four children. In the 1910 census there is no listing anywhere for Lizzie and Harris yet two of their children were living with William and his wife in Friar’s Point, Mississippi. With a lot of hard work I found that Harris and Lizzie had moved to San Antonio, Texas and Harris had died of tuberculosis in 1904 in San Antonio. Lizzie had died of tuberculosis in 1908 in San Antonio. In the 1910 census two of the their children are living with William back in Mississippi, one daughter is living with Lizzie’s brother’s family in Memphis Tennessee. The fourth child, Sarah, shows up in the 1910 Colorado census. She is 18 years old. Sarah contracted tuberculosis in Memphis and moved to Colorado in 1909 for treatment at the JCRS hospital. Sarah died in 1917 in Colorado. JCRS, for many of us who remember, was the name of a shopping center on west Colfax in Lakewood. The entire property was owned by the Jewish Community Relief Society. The synagogue remains behind the shopping center. Both Denver and San Antonio were cities that people with tuberculosis sought treatment.

Several months ago I found Lizzie’s will in a digital collection from Mississippi. The will lists five children. With a lot more digging I found the fifth child, David, born in 1901 and 9 years old in 1910 census, living in a Jewish orphan’s home in New Orleans. At age 18 he left the orphanage and went to live with his sister in Memphis. After communicating with a member of the board of directors for the history of this orphanage I learned many people in the early 1900’s were dying from tuberculosis and the B’nai B’rith Society placed the surviving children in orphanages to continue their education and religious studies. For me, it was heartbreaking to put this information together and find that an entire family was devastated by this horrible disease.

In 2020 the government will release the 1950 census and it will be fun to look for myself and many of you!

So many of our ancestor’s are worthy of note. Whether it is for their courage, fortitude or spirit, they have a story to tell. The best place to tell that story may be at the family dinner table. We grew up having dinner most every Sunday at my Grandparents home, Bernard and Francis Hancock. All the aunts and uncles and cousins would be there. Everyone was welcome. You just needed to call Grandma before she went to the meat market on Tennyson, to let her know you would be there. “Dinner” was at 2:00 on Sunday. In the summer we would have picnic’s in the mountains and wade through the creeks and romp the forest trails. Maybe a little wiffle ball.

I can’t say that Grandma was a great cook, but she certainly defined the “feel good” meal. Best fried chicken, best pot roast, best chocolate cake, best lemon meringue pie and molasses cookies are some of the things I remember. Every now and then, in the summer, Grandpa would get out the old wooden churn to make ice cream and at the last minute throw in some fresh peaches.

Times were not always so easy. During World War II, some food wasn’t easy to come by. Not long ago I found a ration book with my mother’s name on it. With seven children to feed from 7 years old to my mother at 18, I’m sure Grandma needed that extra ration book to get the necessary food to keep this family of 9 from going hungry. Every American was issued a series of ration books during the war. The ration books contained removable stamps good for certain rationed items, like sugar, meat, cooking oil, and canned goods. A person could not buy a rationed item without also giving the grocer the right ration stamp. The books were distributed by a local “board” operated by the Office of Price Administration. “Victory gardens” provided fresh fruit and vegetables. There was always a corner of the back yard for a garden.

I will always remember those Sunday afternoons we used to have when we were all together, sharing the best of our everyday lives.

Again, we are called upon to chronicle the departure from this life of one of Rock County’s most respected citizens.

Mr. Levi Squires, late of the town of Porter, died at his residence in this village, November 19, 1882. He was born in Caldwell, Warren Co., N.Y. June 22, 1802. In 1839 he removed to Glenns Falls, N.Y. where he resided til 1848, when with his family he came to Wisconsin where he settled on a tract of wild land in the town of Porter. By his own industry it became one of the most desirable homes in Southern Wisconsin, where he resided til a few weeks before his death.

One of the pioneer settlers of the county, he became widely known for his reliable business qualities and integrity of character. In religion, he was a Baptist, which faith he embraced in youth, and ever found hope and consolation in the Bible, which was his companion to the end.

He leaves a widow, two sons and one daughter, who were present during his last hours, to mourn his loss.

The Family

Levi Squires married Sabrina Scofield in New York sometime before 1838, they had three children Edwin R. Squires 1838-1906; Jane Squires 1841- unknown date of death and Eugene Squires 1851-1925. They were all members of the Seventh Day Baptist Church. This “clan” of families, Squires, Scofield, Wheeler, Vaughn and a few others all left New York state and moved to Wisconsin about 1848, settling near the small village of Porter in Rock County, Wisconsin. Much of this history can be found in Roots Webb “They Came To Milton.”

Jane Squires married John Wheeler and they had one child Louis Wheeler and Eugene married Kathryn Pond and they had no children.

In Edwin’s family Francis Charlotte known as Hattie married Wilbur Allen and had four children Mary, Edwin, Jennie and Harvey; Mary Ivadine called Aunt Ivy by Grandma Hancock never married; Harvey married Sarah and they had four children, Jessie Byron, Arthur Byron, Harold and Joseph Squires; Clarence married Mae Florence Russell and they had three children Earl, Roy and Mae Squires Gresham. Jessie Squires never married and Grace Irene Squires married Robert Sidney Foreman and they had four children Mary Frances, Jacob, Margaret and Robert James Foreman.

Although I have met many of the cousins who descend from Clarence Squires it is the Greshams that I keep in touch with to share information such as the recent find of Levi Squires Will and the property owners of the City of Porter, in Rock County, Wisconsin.

Here is the map of the City of Porter in Rock County, Wisconsin. Levi Squires property is just to the right and a little above center. Edwin Squires property is just above Levi Squires.

Another interesting find included in the Will for Levi Squires is the letter from Edwin Squires regarding the reading of the will that he was unable to attend. Notice the letterhead which reads Taylor and Squires, Fine Leaf Tobacco.

My history of the family started in 1998 when my mother and sister, Linda, asked me to visit the library to get copies of records to qualify for the Pioneer license plates. The search has taken me all the way back to the Mayflower passenger list. I love this unending search for the stories of our family.

What’s in a name? Stories. Even if the story is a little far fetched or not quite accurate, a name can tell you a lot.

Here is Jerry’s story.

Signe Viola Stalter and Jerry Frimpter Stalter

My dad, Jerry Frimpter Stalter, while we were growing up, told us his name was really Perry, not Jerry and that his middle name was not Frimpter but should have been Trimpter. His reason, he told us, was because his mother’s Norwegian accent was difficult to understand and the people at the hospital put down the wrong name for his birth certificate. Ok, dad, good story!

Now for the facts, ma’am just the facts:

Signe Helmeena (Anderson) Stalter

Jerry’s mother, Signe Helmeena (Anderson) Stalter was born in Bruce, Rusk County,Wisconsin in 1902. Her parents Hinberg and Signe (pronounced Sena) Anderson traveled from Norway to America in 1892. So, it was easy to believe that Signe, the daughter, could have an accent because it was obvious that her parents would have Norwegian accents.

(click on the pictures to make them larger)

Frimpter Headstone

During my genealogy research I found the family name Frimpter. The Frimpter name was the maiden name of Jerry’s grandmother Sarah (Frimpter) Stalter, mother of Perry Stalter, grandmother to Jerry. Check, question answered. Proof found.

Perry Stalter

Even though I had the answer to the Frimpter/Trimpter story I was puzzled by the Perry/Jerry part of the story.

Baptism registration for the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America

Well this week was my lucky week. You can sign on to Ancestry through Labor Day for free and I used this opportunity to check out my “hints” since I am no longer a member of Ancestry. I found a reference to the baptism of Jerry Frimpter Stalter and to my surprise he was baptized Perry Frimpter Stalter. Check, question answered. Proof found.

Sorting through boxes after our recent move I came across two yearbooks belonging to my mother who graduated from Loveland High School. “The Chieftain” from 1941 and 1943. I was aware I had the yearbooks but I never took the time, until today, to look through and read each page. In the past I have posted many pictures of my mother as a young woman, never being able to date them accurately. The second time around now I know!

The Class of ’43

“On the opening day of the 1939-40 school term, 150 bewildered freshmen gathered not in the high school auditorium as was the usual custom, but in the little red church across the street to receive their first instructions. They had no study halls and no assemblies except pep meetings which were held in the grandstand. All of these unusual arrangements were necessary because of the construction work on the new junior high building.”

Various school activities included pep rally’s to cheer on the football team which was state champion in 1939 having played against Pueblo on the Loveland field. They marched in the Costume Day parade in downtown Loveland. As sophomore’s in the 1940-41 school term many of the students became contributing members of the football and basketball team and cheerleaders and majorettes.

The third year at Loveland High School 1941-42 the “juniors” had 18 boys receive their letter in football, and continuing participation in basketball cheerleading and school spirit continued. The class presented the play “Mama’s Baby Boy,” which was a great success.

Evelyn Hancock Junior Year 1942

In the forward of the 1943 year book for this class of seniors a warning was included “WARNING: Due to war conditions, we were not able to get water-proof covers for your year book, so take special care of them. There may be other things in this year book that you do not approve of, but due to shortage of materials and other difficulties, many plans had to be modified.”

The students returned to school in the fall of 1942 as stately seniors, and as such were allowed to leave the auditorium first. Again the Loveland Indians brought honors by winning the state championship from the Salida Spartans. Due to the shortage of labor on the farms we began school a week earlier and then allowed two weeks vacation to work in the beet fields. The senior year also included attending school on five Saturdays so the students could end the school year early.

Evelyn Hancock Senior Year 1943

“One of the most pleasant memories the seniors of 1943 will carry with them when they leave Loveland High School will be the memory of a class party held on March 12. The party was held in the music room, and dancing and games were the diversion of the evening. Refreshments of pop and doughnuts were served.”

The class sponsor was called back to the Army, leaving mid-term and 6 senior boys left school to serve in World War II.